A "Fool" Print

After two days of hard training : Cycling (70km) and Running (20km), i decided to drop by to Safra this evening for a swim and enjoyed a good old aqua therapy. I met my colleagues, Shirley and Eugene at the swimming pool. We swam together and i had totally lost count of how many laps i had done. In addition, I took this opportunity to work out my breast stroke and trying out few different techniques. Shirely's friend joined us at a later time, who happened to work in SGH as a psychotherapist. Her front crawl looked smooth and relaxing and i wondered if i possible could be the same as her.. .

After the swim, I met Thiat Huat(Chairman), Lai Chee, Trevor and other Safra members at the club. I had a few chit-chat with them, and mostly my topic was centering on the bike since i noticed that was a road bike parked besides them. The frame was full-carbon and custom made!! Cool!!

Shirley's friend suggested we had our dinner and dessert at Creative Culinaire.. We had a fun and enjoyable dinner where I making jokes surrounding the topics on food and disco. We also ordered a number of Cheesecakes, Baily Irish Chocolate, Pratua, Green Tea Gateau and Judy Chef's Signature cake. I especially fond of the Baily Irish Chocolate cake which was uniquely rich in dark chocolate with a blend of wine taste. Delicious and Yummy!!

It has been months since i rejoined back with the runners at Marichite. This morning, Teo wanted us to do a 20km run in preparation for the AHM. There were more runners joining in and I lost count of which group they were belonging to. Nevermind, we knew each other somehow from one another. :)

The run covered the usual route from Old Upper Thomson Road to Seletar Reservoir. Came to think about it. This was my first LSD Run after the Sundown Marathon. My calves were still sore from yesterday morning cycling ride. Not to say that I haven't recovered from my cough yet!

Once we reached the Seletar Reservoir, Teo suggested to go another further route, running up the hill. All of us objected and wanted to make a U-Turn back. ha.. Chew and Billy were fast and furious today. They were running side by side with the young ones.Moreover, they were at their 5os. Amazing!!!

Macus and Johnson(Macus's brother) were tired. They had lacked of training recently. Johnson had signed up for the Full Marathon this year. We were suprised to hear the news as he proclaimed not wanting to do a full marathon before. 3 Cheers for him!!

The tiredness and soreness of my legs had got hold of me at the return trip. In addition, i have been focusing on cycling and lacked of running. How to achieve my timing below 1:50!! :( The weather was extremely hot and my throat was hunger for water. At the petrol kiosk, Oh bought me a 100plus to share. After" swallowing" up the Isotonic drink, our body felt to be flared up. Hmm. Perhaps it was a psychological effect. For the last 4km, I had managed to finish up the run at my usual pace. Oh stopped behind to wait for the two brothers. At our usual resting point, we were all making fun of the Macus and Johnson. It was enjoyable to run with this group as often our run would break up in jokes and suans..

I joined the rest of the old MR runners at Shu Fu hawker center. Steven(?) and Oh were showing their photos taken at Ipoh. The talk turned to spooky when they were relating their horrid experience and stay in the haunt house (House 1) at Fraser hill. It was creepy with the mentioning of: (1) bed being pulled up and down, (2) clawing sound from the wall and (3) a black hand being spotted beside the partner sleeping. Eerie!!!

I sure doesn't want to stay there if i ever join the Ipoh Marathon.

PS: The banana Custard Bun was good at Shu Fu Hawker Center. ^_^

The basement of the auditorium was filled with students in robe. The MBA graduates were convocated together with the Bachelor of Accountancy graduates. Only the color of the robes could differentiate each of us: Orange or violet for Master and Yellow for Bachelor degree holders. I had to slithered through the crowd to reach the information counter to request for an addition ticket. To my disappointment, they redirected me to another counter where the counter assistant had asked to go back to the information counter again. After a few hassles, I managed to get hold of the ticket and scurried hurriedly to the registration counter to register my name for the convocation. In the midst of waiting, I took the opportunity to have photographs with my classmates and friends. It would be our last gathering to some of them as Marceal, Tania, Weiyi etc had flew specially from their home country to attend the ceremony.

When i ran back to meet my parents, my sister had also arrived. I arranged them to sit at the second floor of the auditorium. While marching in to my seat, I took the opportunity for me to take more photos again. I was sitting at the 4th row (D18) located at the right hand corner facing the stage. In front of me were strangers i known not of. They were students whom studied the EMBA. Luckily, Carol was sitting besides me and both of us chatting happily, making jokes, clapping and cheering for our classmates as each of them stepped up to received their certification from our President of the University.

It was a long and enduring process which lasted for two hours. There was a moment of entertainment when one of the Bachelor graduates from Accountancy delivered a stunning performance of a song. Until the last of one whom received, the whole auditorium were cheering and clapping loudly. Perhaps to celebrate the end of our suffering.

After the end of the ceremony, my family and I were roaming around to source for any souvenir to mark this special day. I ordered a plateau to engrave my degree certificate. Then after, I called my Brother-in-Law to pick us up. It was a long wait. Eventually, he came and we had a quick family dinner at the nearby local coffee shop. My niece was elated to see me and revealed of her dream to study in London.. Hmm.... how about my University, Birmingham? She rejected and still insisting of her goal. Oh well... Good for her!! STUDY HARD hor.

It was my first time participated in a triathlon race, not to say it was a relay event with Gal as the swimmer, me as cyclist (40km) and Karen as the runner. It was much stressful to participate as an individual event since I was in the second lane. Any poor performance of mine would affect the runner or the whole team’s performance. Certainly, I could not like the idea of us being the few last groups to arrive at the finishing line.

After yesterday’s night briefing and carbo loading session, the race picked up at 8.30 am promptly. The relay team would start around 9am after each wave had begun. We, the relay cyclists, were all crowded at the transition point waiting impatiently. The event coordinator had repeatedly pleaded us to move back as we might block the other racers. Gal arrived at the transition area half an hour later as predicted by him accurately. Immediately, once received the red band, I ran towards my bike and cycled on.

The weather was marvelous today with the blessing from the hot, cloudless sky. The cycling route was same as last year except the running route which using the same route as cyclists Once out from the starting area, I’m made a wide, right turn, carefully not to skip and fallen down. (I still have problems in making a turn with my tri-bike). There were polices standing by the side of the road blocking the traffic for us. After 1 km ride, I made a left turn and headed towards the highway, which stretched for 4km. Henry was in no time catching up with me. I was trying to overtake him but the narrow lane forced me to slow several times at the back of him. Subsequently, after bypassed him, it was a joy ride to me. I stick to my strategy and using my second gear of my front wheel, keeping the speed at 30km/hr.

After the highway, I made a right turn again with the rolling hills and green fields by the sides welcoming me. I had some problems of adjusting my gears, especially at the uphill. Henry managed to overtake me by then. Nevertheless, the numerous days of training and riding my bikes had finally paid off. After playing with my front and rear gear, I got used to the new terrain and pedaling at a satisfying speed at uphill (20~25km/hr). On the downhill, it was a roller coaster ride. My speed would hit up to 45km/hr and above. Constantly, I applying engine brake to make sure I stayed at a comfortable distance from the front rider. Although drafting was allowed, I certainly no wish to attempt, especially with a tri-bike.

At 20km mark, I caught sight of Henry. Mike hailed me from behind and overtook me about 5km from the U-turn point. I was cycling relatively consistent, marveling the cool-looking, expensive road bikes beside me. After a while, I saw PS riding a constant speed heading towards the U-turn point. Judging from her speed, my guess was that she was riding at 28km/hr.

At every steep slope, I started to recall Lee’s recommended strategy of pedaling hard, especially to stand up and pedaled. I applied the technique, but encountered problems of balancing. Every time I tried to stand up, in no time, my butts were back to the saddle position. In addition, I was thirsty with the sun kissing fiercely on my sweaty body after riding for more than 20km. However, I couldn’t care to quell my thirst as I was too focused to maintain my cruising speed. Once I turned to the highway again, I could saw those fast-pace triathletes was running in opposite direction against us side by side.

In the last 4km, I changed to heavy gear and pedaling hard to the finishing line. Alvin and Karen were waving and shouting at me. My legs felt like slightly cramp when dismounting from my bike, and managed to “crawl” towards Karen to pass her the band. Total time taken was 1:20mins. Happy with the result. It was an enjoyable and memorable experience to able to ride at such a beautiful landscape. Moreover, not to mention of making new friends as well. :)

This evening, we (Me and Pei Choon) were running slightly late. Michelle was already waiting for us at the Singapore River. Lucky for us, Jancy, Anthony, Benny and Eugene (Leaders) were conducting warm-up exercise when we reached the meeting point. It was an expensive trip, which cost me $10.30 for the taxi fare. : (

After registered our names and category to be participated in (7 km), I joined the group and started the run with the rest. There were about 30 of us with each participated to run at different distance. At various turning points for the different groups, the running leader of the group would stop over to guide us for direction. The 7km running route was rather convoluted with many turning here and there. It was confusing for me to anticipate each turn should take. I was running together with a Malay guy (wearing Safra running shirt) and a lady foreigner whom slightly behind me. The guy was rather helpful. At every turn to take, he would call upon me to direct me of the turn. In addition, Anthony, DO, Jancy and the rest of running leaders/ assistants would cheer for us to go on.

After the run, a woman at the registration counter asked me for the timing to complete the run. I couldn’t understand the rational behind it since I thought it would be a leisure run to encourage people to keep up this sport. Apparently, they would like to gauge the runner of any improvement to their health. Still, I wouldn’t agree to their method since a person’s health couldn’t be measured by how fast he/she could run. Well, I might just give her my timing based on my usual pace. Subsequently, I went with Michelle towards Raffles City to have our dinner over there and picked up a book titled “The Last Lecture” which supposed to be inspirational.

Rush. Rush. Rush. This was the description for the series of events happened to me for today.

After finishing my afternoon agendas, I sent my bike for inspection in the evening before the rode with Toa Payoh began. My new triathlon bike has been making squeaking sound ever since I gotten hold of it. Initially, I thought it was normal but my suspicious arose as I experienced difficulties in pedaling it. The shop owner of the bike shop (at Zion Road) confirmed my suspicion. The crank set and rear derailer had not been aligned properly. However, talk about rip-off!! I was charged $25 for the service rendered. Gosh!! Without other alternatives and running short of time, I agreed to the fee. : (

Subsequently, Yean, Ka Liang and his father had cycled to Zion Road to meet with me. Together, we rode via Orchard Road, Newton Circle and reached Toa Payoh to meet with the rest of the group. It was a huge group for today’s ride. There were about 14 of us. The group made up a mixture of roadies and mountain bikes. Tonight, our route would cover Mandai Road, Choa Chua Kang to Bt Timah. Talk about déjà vu. I would still remember the rode with Alvin, Eddie, PS and the rest where I was exhausted and could not catch up with the rest. Tonight was a chance to prove myself again. Ha.

The ride was extremely smooth along the journey. Perhaps it was due to the alignment done at the bike shop. I could pedal the bike with no problem and manage to conquer one slope after another with little trade off in speed. On average, I was riding at 30km/hr. Geez!! Hee hee

The group’s stamina does not match equally with each other. At several junctions, we would stop to wait for the rest to catch up. Nevertheless, this also provided the chance for us to chit-chat and know each other better. At Bt Batok petrol kiosk, we decided to rode to Adam Road Hawker Center to have our supper before we spilt off from there. Unfortunately, after 700m before reaching the point, my tire was punctured. Luckily, there was mechanic support in the group. Ka Liang and Calvin came to my rescue to change a new tube. At 12am, the group greeted each other good-bye and reminded ourselves to meet together at next Saturday. In the end, although there were some confusions and disobeyed of cyclist’s rules at certain T-junctions, but the ride was fun and enjoyable overall.

I was participating as part of the Invitational Team(for my company) for this event. There were 5 of us including Melvin, Andrew... and the rest i couldn't remember their names. It was a short 5km run, which demanded speed and a test of one's Max VO2. I hadn't recovered from my cough yet and the run proved to be strenuous for me.

Andrew was fast and furious!! He had came in first under the invitational team category with Melvin followed behind. During the run, my lung was burning, and grasping desperately for more air. Still, I managed to complete at rank 11, or as third member of the group.

Finally, at the prize ceremony, our team came in second within the Invitational Team Category, and won $150 voucher from Royal Sporting House. Not bad for a day's effort. :)